ew
funds sufficient to pay them. But before long he began to suspect that
Congress could outwit the French minister. For so late as January, 1782,
bills dated prior to the preceding April were still coming; and he said:
"I begin to suspect that the drawing continues, and _that the bills are
antedated_. It is impossible for me to go on with demands after
demands." The next month also found these old bills on Laurens still
coming in. Congress never let the ministers know how many bills it was
drawing, perhaps fearing to discourage them by so appalling a
disclosure. Franklin now wrote to Adams: "Perhaps from the series of
numbers and the deficiencies one may be able to divine the sum that has
been issued." Moreover, he reflects that he has never had any
instructions to pay the acceptances of Jay and Adams, nor has had any
ratification of his payments; neither had he "ever received a syllable
of approbation for having done so. Thus I stand charged with vast sums
which I have disbursed for the public service without authority." The
thought might cause some anxiety, in view of the moral obliquity
manifested by Congress in all its financial dealings.

In November, 1781, came a long letter from Livingston; everything was
wanted; but especially the States must have _money_! December 31, a day
that often brings reflection on matters financial, de Vergennes sent a
brief warning; 1,000,000 livres, which had been promised, Franklin
should have, but not one livre more under any circumstances; if he had
accepted, or should accept, Morris's drafts in excess of this sum, he
must trust to his own resources to meet his obligations. Accordingly on
January 9, 1782, he wrote to Morris: "Bills are still coming in
quantities.... You will see by the inclosed letter the situation I am at
last brought into.... I shall be able to pay till the end of February,
when, if I can get no more money, I must stop."

Ten days later he writes to Jay that his solicitations make him appear
insatiable, that he gets no assurances of aid, but that he is "very
sensible" of Jay's "unhappy situation," and therefore manages to send
him $30,000, though he knows not how to replace it. In the sad month of
March, 1782, Lafayette nobly helped Franklin in the disagreeable task of
begging, but to little purpose; for at length there seemed a general
determination to furnish no more money to the States. The fighting was
over, and it seemed reasonable that the borrowing shoul